Final press release 2015

After five days Messe Düsseldorf delivers a very positive summary of “The Bright World of Metals” on Saturday 20 June. The metal fairs quartet registered good marks on the exhibitors’ as well as on the visitors’ side. In particular the internationality again increased distinctly and now amounts to 56 percent at the visitors and 51 percent at the exhibitors.

With 78,000 visitors from more than 120 countries GIFA, METEC, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST 2015 in Düsseldorf were on the level of the previous events. The experts presented themselves in high spirits to invest and the 2.214 exhibiting companies reported on numerous business transactions with customers from all over the world. Especially in the Asian region there is a great demand for European metallurgy and foundry technology corresponding current requirements of the industry regarding the saving of energy and resources. Two third of the visitors are directly involved in investment decisions in the top and middle management of their companies. On top of the international visitor ranking there are experts from India, Italy, Turkey, France and China.

Messe Düsseldorf Managing Director Joachim Schäfer: “The ‘Bright World of Metals’ shines brighter than ever. The atmosphere in the fair halls was excellent every day. The trade visitors really appreciated that complete machines and systems are presented here in Düsseldorf. Accordingly, the sales talks run extremely positive.” Global market leaders as well as companies specialized in niche technologies evaluated their fair participation as very satisfactory. Trade visitors evaluated best marks for GIFA, METEC, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST: Up to 98 percent regarded their trade fair visit as good.

Spokesmen of the exhibiting companies reported that they exactly met their target groups at the fairs. At the GIFA these were precisely the experts of ferric, steel and non-ferrous metal castings as well as of engineering. At the METEC the major visitor group traditionally came from iron and steel production together with plant engineering and construction, apparatus engineering and tool making. This is also valid for THERMPROCESS. Especially experts of automotive and gear manufacturing as well as of the ancillary industry came to NEWCAST but also visitors from engineering, apparatus engineering and tool making played a decisive role.

The ecoMetals campaign has already been performed for the second time in 2015 on the occasion of “Bright World of Metals” and by this campaign the topic of energy efficiency and saving of resources was obviously in the focus of the visitors’ interest. Director Friedrich-Georg Kehrer: “For the customer industries the recent technologies for the saving of resources and energy efficiency play a considerable role in placing investments. Companies distinguishing themselves in these aspects were in great demand as a visitors’ target on the four fairs.” Consequently, the “ecoMetals Trails” were well booked leading interested trade visitors to the participants of the campaign. There the companies presented their innovative technologies and thus could get in direct contact to potential customers from all over the world.

The fairs were a complete success for the promoting associations - bdguss, VDMA, Stahlinstitut VDEh and IVG Industrieverband Gießerei-Chemie - of GIFA, METEC, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST. The three VDMA trade associations of casting machines, foundry and rolling mill equipments as well as of thermo process and waste engineering represented by their managing director Dr. Timo Würz were pleased with the good course of the fairs: “The expectations were exceeded. In particular we were very pleased about the internationality of the visitors. Also from our participating companies we received a very good feedback. GIFA, METEC, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST again have given proof of their outstanding position as leading trade fairs for our branches.” Max Schumacher, spokesman of the general executive board of the federal association of the German casting industry bdguss concludes: “The GIFA again demonstrated that it is the principal trade fair and the international venue of the casting industry.”

Also for the city of Düsseldorf fairs of such magnitude are a benefit: hotels are highly booked and Rheinufer (banks of the river Rhine) and Altstadt offer best possibilities and facilities for the visitors for a pleasant and successful conclusion of the fair days.

The precise date for the subsequent GIFA, METEC, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST will be set during the following weeks.

The exhibitors’ assessment of the “Bright World of Metals” is extremely positive all round, too:

Dieter Rosenthal, member of the Management Board of the SMS group thinks that the combination of trade fairs is very positive for his company: “We are pleased to see that GIFA, METEC, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST managed to reach their visitor target again and were able to increase their significance in the metal industry successfully. The combination of four different trade fairs is an excellent platform particularly for companies like the SMS Group, as we met customers from all over the world and from many different sectors at the same place and time. This personal dialogue between experts is of elementary importance to us as plant manufacturers.”

Dr. Ioannis Ioannidis, CEO and President of Frech Gruppe, points out that the GIFA 2015 took place in a prospectful economic surrounding: “We had an extremely high number of international customers with concrete plans to invest. Additionally several business deals have been confirmed. The demand for innovative products as well as the atmosphere were promising. We are looking forward for the next GIFA show in Düsseldorf.”

Erich Brunner, Director of DISA and Wheelabrator had a very successful GIFA in 2015: “GIFA was excellently organised once again. There were large crowds of existing and potential customers from all over the world. The innovative solutions we exhibited, such as complete blasting machine programs to satisfy all the standard and special requirements of both large and small foundries as well as a global and locally based service network, attracted a particularly large amount of attention. We from DISA and Wheelabrator are already looking forward to providing further services to our customers after GIFA.”

Thomas Angerbauer, Market Segment Manager Foundry from KUKA Roboter GmbH, reports: “The number of visitors and the interest shown in the products and solutions from KUKA Roboter and KUKA Industries at GIFA 2015 definitely exceeded our expectations.” His colleague Steffen Günther, Vice President Casting Solutions, KUKA Industries GmbH, adds: “Countless meetings with our customers on the stand have helped us to understand their requirements even better and to identify the market trends. Automation of die casting was the main focus. The trade fair was definitely a complete success for KUKA – we are looking forward to the next GIFA.”

The MAGMA Managing Director Dr Marc C. Schneider says that GIFA 2015 was a very successful event for his company: “The atmosphere was unusually positive and the visitors to our stand at the trade fair showed very keen interest in the technical trends in the industry and in the optimisation of their processes. Both we and our MAGMA colleagues from all over the world were delighted by the international visitors and plenty of new contacts.” Dr Jörg C. Sturm from the MAGMA management confirms: “GIFA is the leading trade fair for an entire industry. In spite of all the communication media that are available nowadays, numerous innovations were presented for the first time at the trade fair, which makes GIFA an indispensable event, quite apart from the personal contacts to customers that are possible there.”

Till Schreiter, Director of ABP Induction, found participation in GIFA/THERMPROCESS very worthwhile again: “As expected, the trade fair was a tremendous success again. It pays off here that the event only takes place every 4 years, so that customers are very interested and focus intensively on the exhibits, in contrast to rival trade fairs which are not as attractive.”